Apple on Tuesday extended its new emergency service, Emergency SOS via satellite, to customers in France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Now, iPhone 14 users in these countries will be able to contact emergency services, even if they are out of cellular and Wi-Fi range. Apple will expand this service to other countries l ‘next year.
The iPhone maker launched the feature last month in the United States and Canada after unveiling it at its Far Out event in September. The feature is available on any iPhone 14 device running iOS 16.1 or later. It is free for two years from the activation of a new smartphone.
The feature uses custom-designed components and software to connect to a satellite’s unique frequencies without a cumbersome antenna. Users can send and receive messages in 15 seconds, only on a clear day. A demo is built into the feature, so users can try it out before they run into a real emergency.
A $450 million investment for Apple
With this new feature, users can also use the Find My app to share their location with friends and loved ones via satellite.
Last month, before launching the new emergency feature, Apple said it had spent $450 million on infrastructure to set up the service.
Source: ZDNet.com